Medical Advice, or Lack Thereof: In prattling on about diabetes, rest assured I am not doing so as a doctor. Or nurse. Or anyone remotely qualified to give you Official Medical Advice. Recognize all my experiences, pointers, and cringeworthy failures as utterly personal, and talk to your healthcare provider if you want to make changes to your treatment plan, medications, and the overall care and keeping of you.

HIPAA Compliance. I occasionally write about my work at GOB [Ghetto Outer Borough] Hospital. (Note: the hospital itself is pretty nice, but the ‘hood itself is….well, the ‘hood. Hence the nickname.) All identifying details have been scrambled in order to meet HIPAA standards of patient privacy. People may be combined, characteristics altered, dialogue reinterpreted, and anecdotes getting the verbal Photoshop treatment.

Rest assured that HIPAA does not steal the soul of a story– the gist remains the same.